


Sharpe's Ruse

by Chick4Chick2



Category: Sharpe (TV)
Genre: Covert Operation, F/M, Public Hand Jobs, Rescue Missions, Threatened Sexual Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-10 21:39:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16462823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chick4Chick2/pseuds/Chick4Chick2
Summary: Richard Sharpe has been sent to rescue a group of women captured by a mixed group of deserters and decides to infiltrate them by pretending to be interested in purchasing one of the women.  But first, the lady's captor's wants a show.





	Sharpe's Ruse

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mynameisnoneya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mynameisnoneya/gifts).



> This is completely a gift for my dear friend and not meant to be taken too seriously. Hope you enjoy your little Sharpe fantasy, my dear!

“This has Hakeskill’s stink all over it,” Harper grumbled as Richard pulled out his pocket telescope to eye the old Spanish stronghold.

A mixed bag of deserters, French, English and Spanish, had taken up residence in the old castle after they’d abducted a carriage full of officers’ wives and sisters. There were rumors that they were planning to sell the ladies off to the highest bidders in some disgusting auction to help get them enough coin to see them in food, wine and ammunition.

It had fallen to Richard and his men to rescue the women before any harm could befall them especially with Wellesley’s forces moving into the area with plans of fighting the French nearby soon.

“Aye,” he said as he closed the telescope decisively. “But he’s not here now. Maybe I’ll get my chance to even the score there but our mission comes first. I believe a little reconnaissance is called for.” He had received a fat sack of gold to use as well.

“You can’t be thinking of going in there, Dick!”

“I’m not just thinking on it, lads. Stay here. I’ll be back by morning,” he said before he shed his coat for a fine black cloak.

 

* * *

 

The clang of the lock echoed before the door swung inward with a shriek. A couple of girls scattered to the corners. But, Elisabeth stood defiantly rooted to face their intruder. So far, none had been harmed but one could never tell.

Hakeskill’s maids they were called. She didn’t know who Hakeskill was but she sure didn’t want to be his maid.

“Ladies,” their oily keeper said. “We’ve a guest so mind your manners.”

He kept his key tucked securely around his neck. Elisabeth would like to take that key, slit his throat and run away. But there were six other young women with her and some little more than children.

“There’s an Irish prince come to take a look at Hakeskill’s maids.”

_An Irish prince? Is the man an imbecile? There are no Irish princes._

But looking at the ragamuffin man, she decided he was likely an imbecile as well as a deserter.

As soon as the words had left their keeper’s foul mouth, in strode a tall man with sandy blonde hair.

“Good evening, ladies,” he said with an accent that brought Wapping to mind more than Dublin.

He wore a good cloak though.

Elisabeth instantly dropped herself into a bow even though she had no interest in pleasing these men. Still, with her chestnut brown locks and bright blue eyes, she knew she garnered more looks that most of her mousy-haired companions.

The man’s boots appeared before her, black and scuffed, the leather seeming rather well-worn and out-of-sorts with what Elisabeth mused a lord would wear.

She dared another look at his face and was startled to see him gazing right back at her. Elisabeth’s lips parted and her eyes widened as she took in the sight of him properly for the first time. Nobility or not, he was quite handsome. His long face and blue-grey eyes spoke of biting northern winds and home. How she wished she’d never agreed to go with her sister to join her brother-in-law on campaign. Thankfully, her sister had avoided capture though but here she was, likely being sized up to be some so-called prince’s bed fellow.

The man’s nostrils flared slightly as his eyes roamed her face. He gently turned up her chin with one finger as though he was inspecting the goods. She should be infuriated but as his eyes descended to her neck, his feather-light touch ignited a fire in her blood.

Elisabeth cursed herself for being drawn in by the man. She swallowed hard as his finger trailed down her throat. Damn him. Maybe he’d feel the bite of a blade before the night was done instead of the turnkey.

Her pulse pounded deafeningly in her ears as his gaze travelled lower to her breasts. She wanted to shield herself then. The thin gauzy material that she’d been given to wear after their capture, a thin white chiffon, looped and gathered at various places on the body and cinched at the waist with a blue belt was not remotely a proper dress.

“Nice, eh?” the turnkey said with a lecherous grin.

His eyes moved lower still and when they saw what the thin material could quite not hide, the dark curls at the juncture of her legs, he swallowed thickly.  “How much?” he said in a harsh barking voice.

“Oh, Hakeskill wants to do an auction of sorts with this lot. More money. Many of them is untouched, m’lord.”

The lord glanced at her companions. There appeared to be a flicker of something in his eyes. Was it lust? It struck her more like concern and pity.

Another man entered the cell, the French capitaine. Elisabeth had only seen him a time or two. She thought he might be second in command to this mysterious Hakeskill they all spoke of.

“Aw, you have good taste, mon comte. Elle est une beauté.”

“Qui, monsieur. I’d like to take this one.”

“Oh, but my master might not like me allowing you to take one of his lovely maids before he even gets to try her.”

“Considering the amount of gold I’ve paid, I think I can have the girl’s virtue. Your master has five other girls here.”

“Not all are virgins.”

“It’d only be sporting of you to give me this one for the night. My friends and I will return in the morning with five times the gold to buy the rest.”

The Frenchman seemed eager to take the gold but still worried about making this decision on his own. “Are you so eager to leave us already, my lord? Come and drink a little wine with us while we count up your gold. Bring the girl. Perhaps we’ll entertain your request.”

“Very well,” the lord said though he was clearly annoyed. “Your name, my lady?”

“Elisabeth Clarke, Lord Winslow’s sister-in-law and daughter of Sir James Clarke.”

“I am Earl Richard Donegall, of the County Meath.”

“Not a prince?” the lackey said stupidly.

“Not a prince,” the man said with an amused grin that told Elisabeth this was a sly one.

“And no Irishman either,” she whispered when the turnkey and capitaine were bickering over something.

His eyes widened. “No, my lady.”

“You won’t get away with this. You may buy me and rape me but you’ll never know a night’s rest in my presence. And if my brother-in-law catches you…”

“You mistake me. I’m the man who means to get you and these other girls out of here before Hakeskill returns.”

“Out?”

“Captain Richard Sharpe, at you service, my lady.”

“Captain…” Elisabeth scowled and looked at the two captors, still busy with their bickering, and then the other ladies present.

“Will you cooperate?” he prodded. Their time to speaking was dwindling.

“I shall if you swear you will not mistreat me or see any of these girls harmed.”

“You have my word, my lady,” he managed to murmur just as the two men ceased their argument.

Elisabeth was bid to follow the men in only her scrap of a gown. They were escorted to the main hall of the old fortress where two dozen men were engaged in bawdy laughter and drinking. When they spied her and her companion, they all quietened with expectant looks on their faces. She took a deep breath and willed her feet to move forward, her eyes scanning all the faces that were turned towards her. She could feel her cheeks flame under the scrutiny of so many, their eyes feasting on the curves of her body.

“You are a fine lady. Their eyes can look but they will not touch you,” her would-be rescuer said. She took some comfort in this words.  They were shown to a seat at the head of the hall. There was no seat for her so she stood.  “I would offer you my seat, my dear, but I’m believe they expect you to…” Richard gestured towards his lap and she rolled her eyes. “No mistreatment,” he swore under his breath.

She decided to trust him this much and allowed herself to sit.

“Un dulce regalo, señor,” a Spaniard said from the other side of the table.

“Do we really have to sell them?” a mopey looking British youth complained.

“Quiet, you fools. The earl is our guest and his gold could feed us through the winter.”

“Hakeskill won’t like you selling the girls off without permission.”

“I am in charge while he’s away. And the earl’s not leaving yet.”

Those words sent a chill through Elisabeth. She gave Sharpe a curious glance. He gave her an imperceptible nod. They’d have to be careful here.

“Never mind what Hakeskill likes tonight, amigos!” the Spaniard said clapping his hands together, “I’ve brought entertainment for us and our guest.”

A half a dozen young women entered from the same doors she’d passed through earlier. A guitar began to play and the girls began to dance, moving from man to man.

Elisabeth had to suppress a snarl. She felt her ‘seat’ slowly stroke her back. “We’ll free them all,” he murmured. “You have spirit, Miss Clarke, but here a pretense of gratitude and some fear might be in order. I’ve not got you away just yet.” He jostled her gently in his lap, repositioning her a little. From this new arrangement Elisabeth could feel something hard poke at the underside of her thigh. “Sorry,” he breathed, his lips framing his next words, but a man called out before they could leave his mouth.

“You want to buy her, m’lord, but do you even know if she’s worth the coin?”

“She’s a beauty,” Richard Sharpe said. “I’m certain to be pleased.”

“Aye but will she keep you entertained abed.”

“I prefer her innocent so I may teach her.”

The men and dancing girls all laughed at that.

“Still…wouldn’t want it to be said I gave you a bad bargain,” the capitaine said with a cold smile. “Perhaps you should try her out just a bit here first?”

“Aye! Get her good and ready, m’lord!” another man said as he pulled one of the dancers into his lap and cupped her breast. “Make her slick for the main event!”

Elisabeth gaped at the display but was even more surprised to hear an actual growl emanate from deep within Richard’s chest. She glanced down at him just in time to see his scowl morph into a forced smile. He nodded and gave a short wave of acknowledgment to the men who offered the crude advice before she heard him mutter something angrily to himself.

He turned to her, his other hand joining its twin on her hip, effectively encircling her in his arms. “It should please me to have a kiss from you my lady,” he rasped, staring at her lips and swallowing.

Elisabeth leant forwards tentatively until her lips brushed delicately with his. Richard’s lips were soft and the scruff of beard that surrounded them tickled her skin. Pulling back, Elisabeth watched as his eyes open slowly.

“Did…did that please you, my lord?”

He licked his lips and nodded. “More…please” he said in a low scratchy whisper that gave Elisabeth curious prickles across her skin. She leant down once more, this time, Richard’s hand slipping from her hip to travel up her back and cup the nape of her neck, holding her to him.

His kisses were short and almost chaste, vastly different than the sloppy kisses happening all around them. A pleased sounding rumble came from the center of his chest and his other hand moved to the top of Elisabeth’s thigh, his thumb caressing her slowly, working her to become pliant in his lap. His lips moved from her own, slipping down her cheek and jaw to stop just below her earlobe. His hand still cupped her, holding her in place as her blood thumped in her veins and his hot breath fanned against her skin.

“Do not be afraid,” he whispered in her ear after the display as the men around him cheered their kisses. “My men are not far. We can take these drunken louts easily and…”

Elisabeth’s breath hitched in her throat as she tried to make sense of his word all while he was nuzzling her throat and his hand caressed up and down her thigh.

“I don’t…”

“Shhh…our words must not be overheard. We must play along. I will not take your virtue.” Elisabeth struggled to comprehend his words twinned with his lips brushing against her earlobe and the steady stroking sweep of his hand on her leg. “We must play along,” he repeated, “They want a bit of a show but we’ll soon escape. We’ve horses waiting." Elisabeth sat still, replaying his promise over in her mind before she nodded her head, the action being met with a squeeze of acknowledgement atop her thigh. “Play along,” he urged into her ear, “it is all for show, I assure you.”

Elisabeth turned and caught his lips with hers, eliciting a small groan from him. Bracing herself on his shoulders, she tilted her head to slot their mouths more securely together. Elisabeth broke away and softly began kissing along his jaw in much the same fashion as he had done. “If this is all for show,” she whispered against his ear, “why can I feel a hardness in your breeches, my lord?” Elisabeth teased, shifting against his lap for emphasis making his breath hitch in his throat.

He kissed along her neck, burying his face from view of the court amongst the fall of her hair. “Forgive me,” he breathed into her, “I am only a man and you...you are very beautiful.”

“Perhaps my virtue is in danger after all,” she said with a saucy grin.

“Minx,” he chuckled.

“So, we’re to act as lovers while they feast until you can get us away.”

“That’s the plan.”

“It’s a horrible plan.”

“I don’t know. I think it has its merits,” he said in a husky tone that sent shivers through her. “Pretend that you want to please me.”

_Pretend? There’ll be little pretending._

She kissed him, suddenly, and hard and heady, with her fingers spearing his hair and her eyes tightly closed. He moaned into her mouth, one of his hands slipping down to grasp the round of her behind, pulling her even more closely to him as if he meant to mold them together as one.

“Like that?” she whispered once they’d broken apart.

“Yes,” Richard panted, “like that. We’re being watched.”

Elisabeth peered back over her shoulder, and sure enough, even with a woman of his own in his lap, the capitaine was staring at them both. Did they suspect he was not who he said?

Elisabeth gasped and snapped her head back in place. Richard’s warm hands stilled, his arms tightening around her briefly before he kissed back up her neck to murmur into the side of her cheek. “Shh, it’s alright, I’ve got you. I won’t hurt you…we just have to do this until he’s convinced…do you think you can convince him?” Elisabeth inhaled, her ribs expanding where she pressed against him. She nodded. “Put your hands to my hair again,” he suggested as one of his own began to stroke the length of her locks.

“Stop teasing the girl!” another man cried. “Is she wet and wanting for you yet?”

They both froze, their eyes locked together as her frame obscured his face from the other attendees of the feast. “Patience is a virtue, sir,” Richard responded loudly with an irritated growl. “I’ll see her more than willing when I take her from here and in the privacy of my room at the inn.”

Elisabeth let a little tension seep from her frame as his comment was met with a few murmurings of laughter.

“Indeed,” the capitaine called out over the din, causing people to hush immediately, “but it will not do to torment your purchase in such a way.” Richard’s eyes widened very briefly, his body going taut and his arms tightening around her. “She must be full of nervous anticipation the poor thing. Put her out of her misery. Is she ready for you?”

“I am!” Elisabeth yelped, twisting in his lap to look back at the Frenchman. “I am ready!”

“Prove it,” the man said darkly.

Suddenly, there were two armed men on either side of them. Richard stared at the capitaine with fury. If he reacted violently, she’d be right back where she started or worse.

“I can pretend,” she whispered. “Can you?”

He sucked in a deep breath and placed a soft kiss on her cheek. “I am sorry, Elisabeth. Could you…open your legs a little...please.”

Elisabeth’s pulse thrummed as she stared at him, trying to decide if she was as bold as her words. She was…for him. She swallowed painfully and shifted her thighs apart.  
Richard gently pressed a warm flat palm on her thigh and worked his way up and under the thin gown. His lips returned to her neck as his hand disappeared between her legs, his fingertips lightly touching her folds. Her breath quickened as she her eyes darted around at all the faces watching her and watching what he was doing to her.

Richard’s other hand squeezed her hip in assurance. “Ignore them,” he whispered, “close your eyes. There’s no one else here.” He rasped as the pads of his fingers drew lazy circles through the hair of her womanly place. Elisabeth’s breath hitched, eliciting another comforting squeeze from him. “Close your eyes, Elisabeth,” he urged once more.

She obeyed, the faces disappearing into the darkness of her eyelids. All that existed to her now was the warmth of Richard, his hot wet mouth just below her jaw, his strong arm cradling around her back and the hand the now dipped between her thighs.

Elisabeth whined a little, the sensation of his touch there making her wanton. She licked her lips, her eyes still closed as she willed herself to forget the presence of everyone else in the room. The man’s fingers explored her gently, rubbing up and down as he continued to kiss and nuzzle at her hair and neck. She could feel his efforts to even out his breathing as he nosed behind her ear.

Quite suddenly, his touch disappeared. “She is ready,” Elisabeth heard Richard call out. She opened her eyes and saw the capitaine looking amused.

He raised a brow in silent question prompting Richard to hold up his hand. Elisabeth blushed a deep scarlet as she realized what it was he was presenting for everyone to see. There, in full view, was a glisten of something coating his fingertips. 

She gasped as shame washed over her but Richard kissed her cheek softly. “It’s alright.  You are so brave, my lady,” he murmured low so that she were the only one to hear it. “See? She is ready and I’m ready to take her with me. You have my gold,” he said with finality, wiping his fingers on his breeches and making a move to rise from his seated position.

“Of course…” the capitaine said with a dangerous leer. “But first…we will not get to sampler her delights.  It's only fair you give us a bit more."

"I've given you gold."

"Gold is cold compared to a lady's warmth.  Make her peak...for all to see.”

“You dirty, disgusting…”

“You’re the one here to buy a maiden, my lord. Am I to believe you’d balk at making a show of her for us?”

Elisabeth was sure that the hall was as silent as the grave, the only sound to be heard was her own erratic heart. The rigid air was so thick, she swore she could taste the buzz of tension within it.

After what seemed like endless moments of the two men glaring at one another, Richard shifted in his seat, jostling Elisabeth a little before clearing his throat. “Very well,” he conceded as Elisabeth’s eyes widened on him.

He kissed her then, tender and sweet, his hand coming back to toy with her maiden’s hair. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry," he murmured against her lips, his fingers dipping lower between her legs. “Close your eyes again. Pretend they’re not there, imagine I’m someone else, someone you would want to touch you this way,” he husked against Elisabeth’s ear, sending shivers down her spine.

_What if I wanted your touch?_ “Not like this,” she whimpered.

“I know. I’m sorry. I'll get you away, I promise.  If it's the last thing I do.  Close your eyes and pretend I’m some knight from an old story and you my lady-love,” Richard continued, his beard scraping against the column of her neck as the pads of his fingers sought out the bud at the top of her sex.

Elisabeth’s breath caught in her throat once his seeking fingers found their intended destination, rubbing her firmly and yet slowly in circles. She closed her eyes and fisted her hands into his shirt. She fought the urge to arch her back or rock into his touch.

“That’s it,” he whispered to her between suckling on her earlobe, “just relax. Concentrate on my touch, nothing else. It’s just you and your valiant knight.”

Elisabeth’s teeth bit into her bottom lip, her eyes still closed. She pictured her golden haired knight who looked remarkable like the man whose lap she sat in coming to rescue her and proclaim their ever-lasting love.

But the heat that he was igniting between her legs was not make-believe. It was very real.

Elisabeth whined when Richard’s fingers abandoned the delicious spot he had been working at to slip up and down through her folds. Elisabeth gasped out loud when he sought her core and pushed a digit inside her, causing Richard to still and his breath to hitch.

“Shhh, you’re alright,” he whispered to her, his words like hot syrupy honey being drizzled down the length of her spine, “I’ve got you. I’ll make it good. Just relax, relax into me.” The pad of his thumb came up to slowly swipe over her sensitive bud from side to side. Elisabeth whimpered and let out a long breath she had been holding on to. “You like that?” he asked. Elisabeth licked her lips and nodded as Richard began slowly working his finger in and out of her.

“You’re so beautiful,” he breathed into her neck. Another finger joined the first, creating a dull sting as he built his rhythm. “God, I wish the circumstances could be different but soon I’ll get you out of here.” He increased the pressure on her bud, making her buck shamelessly against his hand. “That’s it, good girl,” he whispered, his own breath now sounding labored against her ear. “Chase that feeling, move your hips.”

The sting had faded completely now, and all Elisabeth could feel was the heat of his mouth and the workings of his hand. Pleasure began to build and unfurl, creeping along like a stealthy feline, waiting for the perfect time to make that pounce. Elisabeth started to hear a wet sound coming from Richard’s ministrations at her sex, she may have blushed at the realization but the feeling he was inducing was just too delicious for her to pay it much mind. Richard groaned and dragged his teeth over her earlobe.

“Mmmm, so good,” he rumbled from his chest, hot heavy breaths expelling from his nose into the thick of her hair.

The pounding in her ears and the thick pulsing at her sex were making it all too difficult for Elisabeth to think straight, thoughts of all the eyes on her seemed to fade away, only to be replaced with the aching need to be satisfied.

Elisabeth kissed him, not for show, or to pretend, but because it was what her body was telling her to do. “Yes,” she breathed against his lips before Richard shifted her, his hand disappearing from her sex and coming to her waist, moving Elisabeth so that she sat astride him now. Her face was a whole head above him as she braced herself against his shoulders and her legs curled under at either side of his own. Richard grasped her hips, looking up into her eyes as he moved her back and forth, rubbing that center of pleasure against his breeches as he moved his own hips up in time with hers like some sort of lusty dance.

“Feel good?” he asked in a voice that sounded a little strained. Elisabeth nodded and ground herself down a little harder against him, making him groan and his eyes flutter closed. “If you carry on like that, I’ll be the one to come apart,” he whispered, his nostrils flaring before placing sloppy, open-mouthed kisses against her breastbone as she continued to writhe in his lap.

Elisabeth sucked in a gasp when Richard’s hands came up to cup her breasts, kneading them gently through the transparent fabric of her dress. He pulled at the fabric of her dress, exposing a breast completely. He circled her teat with the pad of his middle finger, round and round until it was a tight, dusky pink bud. Elisabeth watched with her lips parted, breaths coming out in pants as she continued to rock into that sweet pressure between her legs.

Looking up at her, Richard's eyes had grown as dark as sapphires. He held her half-lidded gaze as he gently lowered his head to her breast, closing his lips around her nipple. Elisabeth keened at the hot, wet feel of his mouth, the rough of his tongue dragging over the stiff peak before he started to suckle. Bolts of lightning shot from his attentions straight down to her sex, making the whole area tingle in such a way that she began to cant her hips against him with renewed fervor. Richard moaned around her nipple, seemingly pleased with her new pace, the vibration from his rumbling eliciting a shudder to roll down her spine.

“That’s it,” he mumbled around her teat, his eyes staying fixed up to hers. “Do you like that? Does it feel good?”

Elisabeth whimpered out her answer and bucked harder against him. _Almost there, almost there_ , she thought as he suckled one nipple and lightly pinched at the other.  The hot white light rolled through her body, bowling her over so fast that she couldn’t even hope to hold back the choked sob that came tearing from her throat.

“Good girl,” Richard murmured after her tense body relaxed on top of him, his hands gently stroking her in a soothing fashion as she panted, slipping down down from her high. “It’s done. It’s done,” he whispered, placing a tender peck to her collarbone.

A loud, slow clap echoed around the hall, prompting Elisabeth to open her eyes and remember precisely where she was, and just how many sets of eyes were still on her. Her senses came back to her and she flushed a deep crimson red. Turning in Richard’s lap, she saw the capitaine looking rather pleased with himself.

“Quite the display,” he declared, the other deserters breaking the silence to laugh. “You may go, my lord, and take your purchase.”

“Very well. But I’ve quite a taste for your maidens. I may return tomorrow to purchase the rest.” Elisabeth’s eyebrows raised in query as Richard stood and helped her to her feet. “To free the rest and kill them all,” he murmured in her ear as they strode from the hall.

“Good. I can’t have you doing that to the other girls.

“I’d never. And sorry for the liberties I was forced to take…”

“I can’t have you doing that with the other girls when we’re going to retire to that inn you mentioned so we can continue without an audience.”

His eyes widened in shock and Elisabeth savored the sweet night air as they mounted his horse.  He barked out a laugh at last and said, “As you wish, my lady.”


End file.
